


My Name on Your Skin

by audriel



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Gen, HQ Brofest Master Tier, Platonic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, hqbrofest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-27 21:29:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10817121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/audriel/pseuds/audriel
Summary: What if the name of your best friend appears on your skin?





	1. Bonded Friends

There is a strange phenomenon where the name of your best friend appears on your skin. The name doesn’t always appear immediately upon meeting, sometimes it takes time further into their acquaintance. The name only appears on certain places on the body. Otherwise, the name does not discriminate, it can be found on a child and on an elderly. It can be more than one name on a person, and it can be on the same place.

It is believed that this phenomenon only occurs when two people or more have built a strong bond not unlike a soul bond that can be found in soulmates. However, in this case it is platonic soulmates. It is also for this reason the term of bonded friends are used interchangeably with platonic soulmates when best friends are not enough in addressing the people who have each other's names on their skin.

The places of which the name appears signify their best friend’s main role and influence in their life, such as the voice that speaks for them, the ear that listens to them, the shoulder for them to lean on, the arm that acts for them, the leg that propels them, the rib that protects them, and the back that straightens them. It also comes with the side effect of a soul bond, which is emotional transfer. It is not strange for people to sense the feeling of the person whose name is on their body regardless of the distance between them.

However, the name is not permanent. The bolder the name, the stronger the bond between the best friends. There are occurrences when the name abruptly disappears due to sudden death or slowly disappears due to the weakening of the friendship. It is as possible for a person to have a name only to lose it as it is for them to have a name to gain another in their lifetime. Thus, it is universally believed that the name is a reminder that nothing should be taken for granted and everything worth fighting for must be fought for.

What is _not_ universally known is that within sports team and club, there are bigger possibility of their members to form soul bonds and for them have one name or more of other members on their skin. In some other cases, best friends join the same team or club and become an asset for the team/club with their teamwork. Either way in sports teams and clubs, forming and having bonds are strongly encouraged, although it doesn't guarantee unity and cohesion among the members since bonds are more commonly formed between two or three people at most and that the closeness between bonded friends can either work for and against the team or club.

In Karasuno, when the first years join the club, there are already four sets of bonded friends, Sawamura-Suga-Asahi, Asahi-Nishinoya, Nishinoya-Tanaka and Ennoshita-Kinoshita-Narita. From the four first years that join that year, the older members of the club only expect to have two new sets of bonded friends, but as the four are wont to do, they don’t just break the expectation set up for them,

they _subvert_ it.


	2. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi

It takes a while until their names appear on each other's body since their first meeting on the playground, since Tsukishima cowed Yamaguchi's bullies into submission and won Yamaguchi's admiration. Yamaguchi's name is on Tsukishima's back. Tsukishima's name is on Yamaguchi's leg. It is the first name Yamaguchi collects on his skin, but it is the second name Tsukishima collects on his. The first name he has is of his brother, Akiteru, who also has his name on his leg. Tsukishima has always taken pride of having his brother's name on himself, and is the first thing he does when he feels comfortable with Yamaguchi to show the name on his leg.

Yamaguchi has always admired, if not tad been envious, of the close relationship the Tsukishima brothers shared that they have each other's name on their body. He is the only child and the youngest cousin of the family. He has no one to have sibling relationship with and has hoped that one day he will have someone to share a friendship with instead. However, making friends doesn't come easily for him until Tsukishima.

After befriending Tsukishima, he keeps checking his body for any name—for Tsukishima's name—on his skin. When the name finally appears, he is beyond ecstatic, because not only for having his wish granted but also receiving confirmation that his friendship with Tsukishima is not as one-sided as he has silently feared. After all, Tsukishima is the epitome of cool to his innocent child's mind. He doesn't understand why Tsukishima picks him to be his best friend when he can have someone else much cooler Yamaguchi. But being the coward he is, he doesn't tell Tsukishima any of this as they show off their names to each other, admiring the bold characters on their skin. He remembers showing it off to Akiteru who drops by their room at the commotion. He remembers comparing Tsukishima's name that they have on their legs to the younger Tsukishima's embarrassment.

Now, all Yamaguchi remembers as he looks at Tsukishima's name on his leg is how bare Tsukishima's leg is after he found out that his brother has been lying to him all this time about being the ace of the team. Somehow Akiteru managed to hide the truth from his younger brother even with their strong bond. Tsukishima feels badly betrayed and deceived by the person who is not only his role model but also his best friend. He has thought that with the bond, there would be no lies between them. He has thought that he has one person in the world that he can rely on to be completely honest with him. He loses his faith in names on skin, and nearly loses his faith in Yamaguchi.

Despite the fading name on his skin, Yamaguchi steadfastly stands by Tsukishima even as he grows cold and distant, the bond becoming muted when before it was vibrant with emotion that Yamaguchi struggles to figure out what his best friend’s thinking and feeling behind his apathetic mask when before it comes easily to him. Regardless, he keeps trying, knowing that action speaks louder than words to convince that he is not going to make the same mistake with Akiteru, he is not going to betray his trust and lie to him.

He follows Tsukishima to Karasuno, and to its volleyball club, which Akiteru are ironically the school and club used to go to. Yamaguchi knows that Tsukishima's pretending not to care is just pretense, as in not caring about Akiteru and volleyball when he actually cares too much, but Yamaguchi holds his tongue. Tsukishima's name is not as faint as it was, but it is also not as bold as it was before. He isn't willing to take the risk of upsetting and losing his best friend.

However, the longer they remain in the club, the longer they play in the team, Yamaguchi starts to wonder whether it is worth the effort to keep his tongue. Because he knows that neither he nor Tsukishima is satisfied being the way they are when everyone is going forward, putting all their effort to improve after their loss against Aoba Jousai in the Interhigh Qualifiers. He might not be able to feel much from the bond, but he has learned to read Tsukishima without relying on it, and his best friend is radiating frustration. He just doesn’t want to admit it and hide it better than most.

Yamaguchi knows he has to do something, but he doesn’t even know where to start. He ends up going as far as to ask Hinata for help, who instead turn the question around. What would _he_ say to Tsukishima? He mulls it over for a long time and goes over the words again and again in his mind, but he always finds them lacking. In the end he decides to approach it the way he is about to serve. He gathers all his wits and just goes to Tsukishima, yelling all the while for his best friend like a madman across the training grounds, completely taking Tsukishima off guard. By then Yamaguchi has stopped thinking and let his frustration take over that he doesn't realize he has gone as far as pulling Tsukishima by the shirt so he can get his message across.

While Tsukishima is surprised by the truth and vehemence that Yamaguchi speaks, he is not surprised by the strength and courage Yamaguchi possesses to do it in the first place. Yamaguchi might have looked up to him, as shown from the place where his name is, but Tsukishima never once looks down on him. Tsukishima doesn’t befriend just anyone. He chooses who his friends are and he has chosen Yamaguchi. When Yamaguchi’s name appears on his skin, he has thought it was an inevitability.

Although Akiteru has ribbed him when he told him that, because he sensed his impatience and uncertainty the longer it takes for the name to appear. It is also Akiteru who pointed out the significance of Yamaguchi’s name on his back and told him to listen to Yamaguchi ‘for he will straighten you up.’ Thinking of Akiteru is still difficult and painful, but for different reason that Yamaguchi might have thought.

It was painful when he realized he was being lied to, but what was more painful was his brother's reaction to it. His strong and confident brother, whom he had looked up to for all his life, was reduced to a mess of anger and sadness, guilt and loathing. He saw it as clearly as he felt it through their bond, and there was nothing he could do about it because _he_ was the reason why his brother felt that way. He _broke_ his brother, because _he_ was the name on his leg. The names on their skin are more a burden than a gift. It was best to have no name at all, but Yamaguchi held fast despite his best efforts.

Straighten him up, indeed.  It seems there's more to the names than he thought.

It is with faith when he gives Yamaguchi the ball when comes to the court as pinch server, emboldening his best friend as he takes his place behind on the end line. It is with pride that he watches Yamaguchi score for the team with his serves along with an echo of Yamaguchi’s when he sees his own serve successfully land on the other side of the court. It is his Yamaguchi's pride that amplifies his own when he manages to block Ushijima. It is his best friend's faith that keeps him focused and determined to return to the court and kept him going with his injured hand.

Somewhere along the way, Tsukishima stops resisting and closing himself up to Yamaguchi. The bond between them flares into life once again. The name on their skin bolder than ever.


	3. Kageyama and Hinata

Kageyama and Hinata never think that they will have each other’s names on their body since their disastrous first meeting. They still don’t think they will even after they start to synchronize better on the court. They argue and bicker too much. They call each other names. They do neither of these things with their best friends, or at least Hinata does.

By then Hinata already has two names on his body, one on his arm for Kouji and one on his shoulder for Izumi. They hit it off in their first year of middle school and within months of their acquaintance, their names appeared on each other to their delight. The moment they noticed the new addition on their body, they picked up the phone and agreed for after school celebration in Izumi’s house to gush over the names and compare them with each other.

Since then they were the inseparable trio in their school, it was rare to see one without the other two and vice versa. They were the example of typical bonded friends. They went as far as celebrating the anniversary of the appearance of their names. The only atypical of their friendship was that they ended up playing different sports. Still, by the end of their third year, Kouji and Izumi helped Hinata so he would have enough player to play in the tournament despite their limited skill and knowledge about volleyball.

Meanwhile, Kageyama used to have two names on his body, one on his back for Kindaichi and one under his ear for Kunimi. They didn’t hit it off in their first year of middle school, but as they spent more time together in the volleyball club, they started to spend more time outside the club as friends that eventually their names appeared by the beginning of second year. Despite the bond, it was not smooth sailing for the three of them. Kageyama still missed social cues and failed to understand human complexity that he often misinterpreted the emotion he felt from his bonded friends. In the beginning, Kindaichi and Kunimi filled in the roles that the placement of the names had aptly captured, correcting Kageyama when he was being socially obtuse and listening to the words that Kageyama was unable to voice, but as the distance between their skills grew larger, so was the distance between them.

They had taken the bond for granted, forgetting that it only gave an inkling of their best friends’ feelings, not their thoughts and their whole feelings that they forgot to talk and to understand each other. Kageyama made assumptions that Kunimi and Kindaichi understood why he yelled at them and demanded them to give their best, so did Kindaichi and Kunimi that they no longer tried to correct or listen to Kageyama and ultimately led them to refuse to hit his tosses and have him removed from the team. By the time, he graduated from Kitagawa Daiichi, the skin on his back and under his ear were completely smooth, leaving no mark to show that he used not only to have friends, but best friends. He had seen it coming, but it didn’t make it easier when he stood in front of the mirror and found nothing beneath his ear.

Kageyama doesn’t know what to think of Hinata, and so does the other way around. They find each other annoying and confusing and yet… they understand each other like no else can. Kageyama finds it difficult dealing with people, but somehow it is easy with Hinata. They share the same passion for volleyball, the same drive for growth and the same desire for winning. Hinata might not be the most skilled or the best player in the team, but he never backs down from a challenge. He never considers giving up or making up excuses whenever Kageyama makes what others perceived as ridiculous and impossible demands. Instead, he makes demands of his own, that he forces Kageyama to meet. Sometimes, it feels like Hinata has more faith in his own skill and ability than himself.

It is why despite his own misgiving and certainty that he is in the right, he doesn’t dismiss Hinata’s insistence to change and to be able to fight on his own like he would have if he was in middle school. He goes as far as bowing his head and asking for help from Oikawa. He doesn’t understand himself why, but he needs, no, he _wants_  Hinata on the court with him. Somewhere along the way, annoyance turns into respect and trust. Somehow, he comes to believe if it is Hinata, he will always be there to hit his tosses. There is no one else in the team he trusts more than Hinata. Hinata always meets his demands, it is about time he meet his, by giving the best toss he wants and needs to fight in midair.

Hinata doesn’t know why he has such faith in Kageyama. He knows how stubborn Kageyama can be and no changing his mind when he has decided on something, but he believes that despite his refusal to toss to him, Kageyama will find a way for them to fight together. He has had the utmost respect to Kageyama since their first match and that respect didn’t diminish when he found out that they were in the same team. It only grows, if it is possible. It is by his own eyes and hand he can see how amazing his tosses are. He takes pride for being the one who can keep up with Kageyama and the one who can hit his King’s tosses. He grows to trust Kageyama and wants to be the best partner for him on the court.

Regardless, it still takes them by surprise when they find out that they are on the same wavelength in their first match in the joint training match. Both of them are trying to change and meet each other in the middle, practicing on their own until they can pull of their new quick… until their last practice match against Fukurodani. It takes a single moment, a single glance for them to see the same image in their mind and before they know it, the ball has left Kageyama hands and fallen down right where Hinata is to perfectly hit it in the air. The happiness and excitement they have felt was so potent and palpable that it doesn’t occur to them why it is until Yachi points it out when they are cleaning up the gym.

On the inside of Kageyama’s arm is Hinata’s name.

He has stared at it blankly until Hinata comes over and cries out in surprise seeing his own name on Kageyama. They have stupidly looked for Kageyama’s name on Hinata until they find it on his jumping leg. All of a sudden Kageyama is bombarded with multitude of feelings which likely come from Hinata, among them is happiness and excitement, and Kageyama is _not_ ready. 

He has learned to get used to having only his own feelings without the echoes of two others’ through the bond. He can not remember the last time he has felt such positive feelings from his best friends that he does not know what to do. But Hinata manages to pick his uncertainty and with only a look and a touch, he grounds him.

It becomes obvious that Hinata is better at being best friend than Kageyama. He has the other two names as proof, but Kageyama has learned from his own experience even if it is about what he is  _not_ to do. He is afraid that he will screw it up just like he screwed it up back in middle school, so he tries  _so_ hard, only for Hinata to call him out for being all weird and tell him he was fine being all he is. Kageyama has never felt so comforted and reassured until then.

Hinata can be dense and oblivious at times, but he understands that Kageyama doesn’t have good experience with bonded friends. He noticed how his hand sometimes strayed towards under his ear only to be pulled back abruptly in their early acquaintance. Now that he has Hinata’s name on his arm, his hand strays towards his arm instead. Sometimes he wonders how anyone can just stop being friends, especially with someone like Kageyama who obviously treasures the friends that he has. He might go at it on wrong way, but he is willing to listen if he is told, given the chance. He might be a genius, but he is a hard worker. He is to be admired and respected, and he can find no greater partner and rival in Kageyama. It is just a matter of time for them to be best friends outside the court.

He has faith in Kageyama, just like Kageyama has faith in him. They will try, and they will meet in the middle, just like they always do.


End file.
